(Victor Valley)– – The Ethnic Studies Minor program at Cal State San Bernardino and its student organization will host their seventh annual symposium on Tuesday, May 21, from noon-2 p.m. in the Santos Manuel Student Union Events Center.

Actor, writer, producer and CSUSB alumna Lisa Marie Rollins will perform her one-woman show, “Ungrateful Daughter: One Black Girl’s Story of Being Adopted into a White Family … That Aren’t Celebrities.”

The presentation is free and open to the public. Parking on campus is $5.

In the comedic solo show, Rollins examines her own story of a black girl adopted into a white family, relating it to the celebrity adoption craze, the Haitian and Ethiopian “orphans” and the “myth” of colorblind love.

Rollins uses storytelling, poetry and humorous, unexpected characterizations to illustrate her experience of attending a private, almost exclusively white elementary school and the challenges of “being raised by well-meaning parents who strained her patience.”

She advocates that the voices of adoptees need to be a central part of adoption policymaking, both domestic and international.

Rollins’ social justice work centered on black adoptees has been featured on television’s CNN, National Public Radio and KPFA Berkley, and she has been named one of the “Innovators to Watch” by Colorlines Magazine.

The Oakland-based writer is also the founder and director of Adopted and Fostered Adults of the African Diaspora, one of the first international organizations to focus on the needs of adopted and foster care children of African descent.

Rollins earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Cal State San Bernardino in 1998; obtained a master’s degree in cultural studies from Claremont Graduate University and, although currently on leave, is pursuing a doctorate in African Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley.

Sponsors of the event include CSUSB’s University Diversity Committee, the department of sociology and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. For more information on the performance, or to request special accommodations, contact professor Elsa Valdez at (909) 537-5512.

For more information about Cal State San Bernardino, contact the university’s Office of Public Affairs at (909) 537-5007 and visit news.csusb.edu.